Interesting Facts about Chimps

Interesting Facts about Chimps 

Pan troglodytes
Hominidaea

Chimpanzees are part of the great ape family and the largest of the living primates. There are four types of great apes: Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Gibbons Bonobos and  Orangutans.

They are extremely intelligent and are able to make use of a variety of tools and understand aspects of human language

Chimpanzees are omnivores, this means they eat both vegetables and meat. Chimpanzees live in groups (or bands) of 40 - 60 (some even larger) where grooming is a major pastime

The word "chimpanzee" comes from the Bantu words 'Tshiluba Kivili-Chimpenze' which loosely translates to "creature that looks something like a human"

Chimpanzees are found in 21 African countries.

At the beginning of the 20th century, nearly 2 million chimpanzees populated African forests. Today, that number has dwindled to around 150,000.

The average size of an adult male chimpanzee is four feet (standing upright) and 90 – 115 pounds.Adult females are slightly smaller. Frodo, the alpha male of the chimpanzee community that Dr.Goodall studied, weighed 120 pounds at age 20. He is the heaviest chimpanzee ever recorded at Gombe. At birth, chimpanzees only weigh 2 to 4 pounds!

Chimpanzees can live up to 50 years in the wild. Average life spans of chimpanzees in captivity are slightly longer.

Chimpanzees are omnivores.They like to eat fruits, buds, seeds, blossoms, insects, and even small mammals. Chimpanzees have been known to be successful hunters, and Dr. Goodall has witnessed them sharing their kill with other members of their communities.

Biologically, chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas.  We share close to 99% of the same DNA.

Chimpanzees’ arms are longer than their legs.  This characteristic makes it possible for them to reach out to fruits growing on thin branches that can’t support their weight.

Chimpanzees can walk upright for short distances if their hands are full, but they usually use a "knuckle walk"  with the bottoms of their feet and the knuckles of their hands making contact with the ground.

Chimpanzees have opposable thumbs and opposable big toes to help them grip.

Like human babies, infant chimpanzees rely on affectionate physical contact for healthy development.

Chimpanzee young are dependent on their mothers until age 7.

Grooming is one of the most important social behaviors in chimpanzee communities. It helps them maintain or even improve friendships!

Chimps are capable of demonstrating emotions such as joy and sadness, fear and despair, and love and empathy.

Chimpanzees don’t have the power of vocal language, but some chimps in captivity have been taught more than 300 signs in American Sign Language!

As infants, chimpanzees are affectionate, playful, and irresistibly cute. For this reason, people often buy them from breeders to keep as pets. But chimpanzees do not make good pets!

Chimpanzees are extremely intelligent, making it difficult to keep them stimulated and satisfied in a human environment.

Chimpanzees grow up fast, and by the age of five they are stronger than most adult humans.They become destructive and dangerous, and can no longer live in a human household

Chimpanzees can and will bite. Many chimpanzee owners have lost fingers and suffered severe facial damage.To alleviate this danger, many owners will remove the chimpanzee’s teeth, make them wear shock collars, and even remove their thumbs.

Chimpanzee infants belong with their mothers.Free-living chimpanzees nurse for five years and don’t
typically reach sexual maturity until around age 13. Chimpanzee mothers typically share life-long bonds with their offspring.

When chimpanzees become too large and dangerous to be kept in human homes,they are locked up in small cages or given up.Most zoos will not accept chimpanzees who have been raised in human homes,so former pets are sold to road-side zoos or trainers to be used in entertainment.

Common Chimpanzees are both arboreal and terrestrial, spending equal time in the trees and on the ground

Arboreal refers to their movement in trees which include moving on narrow branches, moving up and down inclines, balancing, crossing gaps and dealing with obstructions. Swinging from one branch to another is called brachiating.

Chimpanzees move around by knuckle-walking (as do Gorillas and Bonobos)

They have approximately 3 offspring in their lifetime

Chimpanzees have opposable thumbs meaning that they can touch each of their fingers with their thumb

Chimpanzees Lifespan: 40 years

Chimpanzees have very long arms (the arms are longer than the legs), and a short body

Chimpanzees have senses very similar to humans including hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch.